Hello there, my name is James, and i live i a quaint little town to the west of England called Portishead. Portishead is a nice town. The people are nice, the scenery is nice, and it is near the sea which is really...nice. At the age of 13, i got my paper round from a neighbours grandparents who didn't want it any more. The events afterwards were quite extraordinary.
I got the round in summer, a great time for a paper round. The curfew is 7 o'clock, but even then the sun was still in the sky. I liked my paper round to begin with, putting the inserts in and watching TV at the same time, then packing my trolley and heading out listening to guns 'n' roses and Mitchell Musso. Each paper delivered was a step closer to home, and that lovely curry mum would make when i got home. I started out doing my paper round on Fridays, which after a year or so became Wednesday, as that was the day i was supposed to deliver the papers. I liked doing it on Fridays, because i got home from school early and saw how quick i could get them done.
my route evolved throughout my time as a paper boy, from delivering one by one, to whole street by taking a chunk of papers, folding them up and putting them under my arm. As winter came, the sun would go, and at 7 o'clock it was pitch black, had it not been for the street lights. The first year of my paper round we got snow, which is very rare in our area. Nevertheless, school was out for 1 day, and the next day was my paper round. So after i played in the snow all day, i got home, put the inserts in, and watched TV.
One person i could always rely on to see me was holly, who lived in one of the houses i delivered to. I would put a paper through, wait about 5 seconds, then ring the doorbell and knock on the door. She would come out, and we would talk about the week and any recent news for about a half hour, then i had to get on. My mum would come and drop any papers that i couldn't originally take with me off, then go back home. She helped me a lot did mum.
Winter turned to spring, and the sun started being my friend again as the evenings got longer, so i enjoyed myself more. But it was starting to get a bit tedious. The same routine, over and over, was getting old after just 9 months. Little did i know, it was about to get worse. Nevertheless, i would trundle along with my little trolley, and deliver every paper i had to.
Spring turned to summer, which turned to autumn, which turned to winter. No such luck with snow this year. By this time, the papers started getting boring, but i didn’t complain, because it was some income. It was low income, but it was income. By this time, the round had changed to a Wednesday. And then, come summer, the income just wasn’t enough.
I wanted a new computer, as the current one at the time was very slow, but £30 a month just wasn't going to make enough money. Plus, i had started complaining about the round. It had become so boring and tedious, i started complaining. Then i got a job at an Italian restaurant as a waiter, which earnt twice as much as the paper round did. After that, it took 2 months, until October, to get rid of the damn thing.
However, on my last round, i got home a bit late from school on the Wednesday, and it took me longer than i expected to do my inserts (distracted by the TV), so i had to only do half of my papers. I had discussed this with my boss, and she was fine with it, so i went ahead and did it. What was waiting for me at home was a very angry mum, looking at me like i had done something wrong. I told her what had happened, but she was still annoyed. I tried to ask why, but all she came up with was "just because". I swear i am raising myself. Anyway, she gave me the silent treatment for about an hour, until she finally admitted she was wrong. This had never happened before, and i was quite shocked. But, i was glad she had come to her senses.
So that’s it! 2 years in a nutshell. Now we wait for my job at the restaurant to be over, then we can do this all over again. But for now, take my advice. NEVER GET A PAPER ROUND.
